Take Your Time
by deardeer
Summary: drabbles based on BOUND. contains OCs, etc. eventual fluff to follow.
1. thought

**AN:** I thought I would post this drabble series to stave you guys off until the next chapters of BOUND are published. I actually have a lot of little snippets sitting around in word documents because they either didn't fit with the story or I wrote them just for fun. I'll also post scenes I cut, too, I suppose, if I find any that aren't too god awful. For now, have some of Shikamaru's perspective of the story. Some of you have been requesting scenes from Shikamaru's point of view, anyway. Feel free to request scenes you'd like to see!

I hope you enjoy. Please review and, as usual, eternal thanks for your patience, support, and sticking around!

* * *

He had stumbled upon her by chance.

Shikamaru had been counting on a nice nap in the park after a rough day of reviewing at the Academy. It was that time of year again when students would be testing to be promoted to the lowly level of Genin. The only difference was this year, he was mandated to test out. After all, twelve was the typical promotion age. The kids who tried—and managed—to graduate earlier were trying to hard, in his opinion.

But he would be lying if he said he didn't want to graduate this year and finally become a shinobi. It was in his blood, after all. He was meant to do this.

There was a single thought that prickled in the back of his mind, though, one that always bothered him whenever big life events like this happened. On his birthdays, for example, or when his dad got that promotion on the Village Council. Sometimes, during the little moments, like when Sakura and Ino and a few other girls got into (yet another) big fight over Sasuke or when Naruto played a prank on Iruka-sensei that subsequently got himself, Shikamaru, and a string of other boys in trouble, this thought would occur to him, too.

He wondered where Ren was, what she was doing.

It had been five years since she'd gone off to train with her family in the next town over. He had been promised opportunities to see her, but as the days passed, those promises were forgotten, and he had left it alone, knowing his parents wouldn't have lied to him for no reason.

Ren was, probably, not in the next town over. Or anywhere close to him at all.

So when he entered the park on that fine day, he was not expecting to find anyone in the spot that he frequented, the spot he had been frequenting for a very long time. He saw the shadow, though, saw the familiar curl of brown hair against her neck, and without thinking (or, more accurately, because he had been thinking the thought that always occurred to him in some way or another), he said, "Ren?"

She whirled on her heels; he saw a flash of malice in her expression, the defensiveness of her stance, before she recognized him. Then her shoulders relaxed, her eyes wide with surprise, and she smiled.

"Well," she said, crossing her arms. "If it isn't Nara Shikamaru. Funny seeing you here."

"I could say the same," he said, although he thought the situation could not be accurately encompassed by "funny."

She was different than he remembered. The years could do that to a person, he supposed. After all, when they had first met on his family's deer park, she was wary, hanging by her mother's skirts even when his father tried to lure her out with promise of candy and a friend, shoving Shikamaru forward to prove he wasn't lying. The more they hung out, the more willing she was to be with Shikamaru alone, to lay in the grass and watch the clouds with him despite becoming distracted by passing butterflies or encroaching deer.

She had been, by all means, sweet and playful, talented in her chakra use before Shikamaru really even understood what chakra was, where it came from. After her family was killed in what he later found out was the Uchiha massacre, she had become quiet, reserved, clinging to his sleeve when she was finally allowed to return to school. She whispered everything she said, became defensive without much or any provocation, always seemed to be unfocused until finally—

She had left to go live with extended family in the next town over.

He never could figure out which town, exactly, was "the next town over."

But that was beside the point. The more he spoke to her as she stood before him, the more he realized she was no longer the girl traumatically affected by the massacre. Nor was she the girl who played with him in the grass, the one who watched the clouds passively. As soon as she got the chance, she challenged him to a fight, one he knew better than to decline.

There was one thing that remained unchanged, though: He was still her best friend.

And she, his.


	2. dated

They had dated other people. Shikamaru especially.

First there was the cryptologist, Shiho. They worked on another decoding assignment together, and briefing lunches turned into briefing dinners, turned dinners, turned walks home, turned kisses on their front steps, in parks, over lunch, dinner, during breaks.

They didn't last long. When she broke up with him, she said, "Sometimes it seems like you're not all there. I'm a good cryptologist, Shikamaru, but you're the one thing I can't seem to make sense of."

He hadn't understood what she meant.

When he told Ino about their break up, about what Shiho had said to him, she scoffed and replied, "That was the best she could come up with? She was just looking for reasons to break up with you, Shikamaru. You read like a book."

He scowled and she laughed, apologizing. "How about I take you out to lunch? That'll be my condolence to you."

That was the beginning of their time together. He didn't think he'd ever actually _date_ Ino. She was an old family friend, after all; their fathers had been on a cell together in their younger years, and the Ino-Shika-Cho combo had been perfected by them. But, when they made their relationship public, everyone waved them off. Sakura, according to Ino's reports, had even said, "What? What were you guys beforehand, then?"

With Ino, things had gotten serious. Their relationship turned into days, then nights spent together, then weeks, months. They were on the brink of a year and a half when, again, he was dumped.

"It's odd," she said, getting up from where they'd had their falling out. He couldn't even remember what they had been arguing about now or even where they were, but he remembers not looking at her, remembers not being able to look at her as she said, "You're a good friend, Shikamaru, but you're lousy when it comes to being with someone—and _really_ being with someone."

"So how's the girlfriend?" said Temari when he visited the Sand as the liaison for the Chuunin exams the following year. She had found out about his relationship with Ino while visiting to exchange ideas about the upcoming exams and teased him mercilessly.

He frowned now, and she understood, saying, "Yikes. Sorry. Forget I mentioned it."

It was tame of her, considering her initial reaction to the relationship. She noticed his bewildered look and said, blushing, "Hey, believe it or not, I've had my fair share of heartbreak to know when to draw the line, okay?"

She really was a brilliant kunoichi. And, he thought, maybe he would have an easier time being with someone like her.

They dated longer than his relationship with Ino and Shiho put together.

Upon reflection, he realized it was probably because they had distance on their side. The longer they were apart, the more tolerable the other was when they finally saw each other again, the more heated and enjoyable it was when they were together. He liked Temari—_loved_ Temari. She was smart and headstrong, and sometimes she undermined what he said, like Ino did, but with Temari, it was more that she knew she was capable of taking care of things herself rather than that she thought he was wrong.

When it came down to it, though, neither would leave their respective villages, the responsibilities they had to their family and friends for the other.

They broke up, too.

"At least this one was mutual," Ren said as he laid spread eagle in the grass, basking in the sun, hoping the heat would be enough to wilt the sadness blooming in his chest. "Temari has broken your heart and your streak as a dumpee."

"I don't know what that means," he said, pressing a hand over his face.

She laughed, patting his knee. She laid opposite him, her head at his feet, her knees at his shoulders. He felt her push herself up, heard her say, "If it makes you feel any better, Kiba and I broke up, too."

He moved his hands away, propped himself up on his elbows. He'd thought something was wrong; she was peppy today, in a way that was forced and unnatural. Shikamaru watched as she picked at the grass, then asked, "How was that?"

"Oh, great," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Kind of like yours and Temari's. He wanted things, I wanted other things, neither of us wanted to compromise and—here we are."

She spread the torn up grass across his legs, frowning. "It just sucks," she said, "because I really liked him, Shika. He was fun and funny and we were together forever and—I'd finally found someone," she said, her voice going low, quiet, "who wasn't all bent out of shape and thought being with me was a good time too, and I don't know if that's going to happen again."

Shikamaru sat up straight, saying, "Well, worst case scenario, you end up with me for the rest of your life."

She grinned. "God forbid. Let's start planning your next conquest. What do you think about Sakura? Actually, scratch that. Neither of us should date within our friend group again. _You_ especially, after the whole debacle with Ino. It was like you guys had gotten divorced or something, with all the side-taking. You have no idea how relieved me and Chouji were after you guys made peace."

Ren pulled her knees to her chest, faced scrunched in thought as she deliberated who would be the best candidate for him. He watched the sun glint off her forehead protector, the way her eyes gleamed.

They stayed together the longest.


	3. set up

"So," Temari says as they shuffle through paperwork. "Are you gonna ask me about her?"

Shikamaru scowls, straightening a folder of applicants. Temari has been in town three days in preparation for the coming Chuunin exams, the last phase of her time in Konoha as they entered the final stages of planning, which turns out to be mostly advising and paperwork. What's most troublesome, though, is Temari herself, who continues to pester Shikamaru about whether he wants to know how Ren is doing in Sand. Each time she asked, he answered: "If there were something to ask about, you would have already told me."

Normally, she let it go, but today she has a different response prepared. "She's dating my brother," Temari deadpans, and Shikamaru freezes, the papers slipping through his fingers and crashing to the floor. Luckily, they don't fly far or get too mixed up, but Temari sighs still because it is an inconvenience and he can already tell by the way she looks at him that she will not help him retrieve what he's dropped.

"I'm kidding," she says with a roll of her eyes as he leans down to pick up the papers. "Jeez, can you imagine? My brother, dating someone from the Leaf. Kankuro would never. Gaara, on the other hand. _I'm kidding_," Temari says again when Shikamaru jerks up and hits his head on the table. "You're more easily startled than deer during hunting season."

He rubs his injury, slapping his recovered papers onto the table. But Temari is speculating now, as women tend to do when they have an idea that amuses them, and her train of thought continues to unravel, much to his immense displeasure.

"Although," she says, tapping her chin as he rushes through his paperwork, itching to leave. "Of the two of them, Gaara would be most accessible to her. She definitely trains with Gaara a lot more when she's not with Chiyo-baasama. _And_ they have late dinners together on occasion. You know what that could lead to."

Temari waggles her brow, which Shikamaru duly ignores. "The only thing, I think, that would be troublesome is he's a Kage and she's, well. I mean, she's been exiled to the Sand for being insubordinate, which may as well be the same as treason. She could be a burden, considering—"

"She wouldn't be a burden," Shikamaru says without thinking, and Temari perks up at his accidental contribution.

When he doesn't elaborate, she punches his arm and says, "You're gonna have to try harder to defend your friend if she's gonna get my approval. The title of Kazekage comes with a lot of responsibility! I'm his sister, and _I_ can't even do something without wondering what kind of impact it will have on my brother's integrity."

Shikamaru doesn't give her the satisfaction of an answer. So she goes on.

"It could be a good story, I suppose," she mumbles, sitting back in her seat. Shikamaru notices that she hasn't touched her pile of paperwork. She's going to have a hell of a time finishing all of that on top of all the work that's going to come in tomorrow. Despite this, Temari brightens as she says, "We could make it so it sounds like Gaara's managed to reform her and turn her into a better shinobi. _Kazekage-sama Helps Girl Turn New Leaf, Learn Love and Loyalty_. The villagers will eat it up. Hey, now that I think about it, maybe I'll go home and engineer this romance myself. Unless you have any objections?" she says as he snaps a folder closed and pushes it into the outbox.

His brow twitches.

"If that's the case," Temari says, beaming.

"She would like your brother."

Temari pauses, looking over her desk at him. He's pouting, he knows, but he can't keep a neutral face for this conversation.

"What was that?" says Temari, and he sighs.

"Ren," he says without looking at her. "She would like Gaara. She's told me some of the stuff they've talked about. He's understanding and insightful. He opens her, and she likes that about him. He's the reason why she wanted to go to the Sand in the first place. She knew that, there, at least, someone understood her and had enough power to help her and _would_ help her. He would be good for her. And she wouldn't be a burden," he says, pushing the last of his paperwork into the outbox. "When you love someone enough, they could never be a burden. And I think your brother would like her too."

Shikamaru stands from his desk, glad to be clocking out early. He shoves his hands in his pockets and leaves without a backward glance at Temari, but stops at the door when she says, "She talks about you all the time. During training, during dinner, even when we're just sitting around. She waits for me to come home from my liaison meetings so she can ask about you. Sometimes, I don't think she thinks about anyone else. You understand her, Shikamaru. You open her, and she likes that about you. You're the reason," she says as he glances at her over his shoulder, "she came to the Sand. Because she wanted to become better for you."

He leans his head back, taking in Temari's words.

"And despite all your complaining and your lazy attitude, you're not a burden to her. If you don't understand what that means," she says, "then you're really not as smart as you make yourself out to be."


	4. return

When they return home and finish filing their mission report, the Hokage dismisses everyone—except for him.

Shikamaru exchange glances with Ino and Chouji, who look just as confused, just as concerned. After all, if he was going to be reprimanded for following the two Akatsuki members who had killed Asuma, then they should be too for going along with his plan. But Tsunade-sama had already done that before they left, and as everyone files out of the room now, she doesn't say a word.

He shifts on his feet, anxious. "Is something wrong?"

Tsunade-sama shifts the papers on her desk, moving all the clutter aside until there is a single sheet in front of her. He tries to read the paper upside down, but the writing is too small.

"You could say that," she says and then she lets out a sigh. "Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura will find out in time, but I thought I should tell you first, alone."

Shikamaru's stomach tightens, the whole of his body tensing. Had something happened to Kurenai while he was away? But, no—if something had, what would Naruto and Sakura have to do with it? Kakashi may know about the baby, but the other two had no business knowing.

"Kurenai is fine," the Hokage says, catching the flutter of his eye. "The baby, too. We're taking precautions to make sure she doesn't stress herself too much with the recent events that have transpired."

"If you could get to the point, then," he says curtly. He doesn't mean to be rude, but if Kurenai and the baby are fine, and somehow Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura are involved, then—

"It appears that," Tsunade-sama says, adjusting the paper in front of her, avoiding his gaze, "sometime while you were gone, Kagiru Ren left Konohagakure in pursuit of Uchiha Sasuke."

She says it mechanically, like she is reading right off a report. She may well be, because her eyes don't leave the paper that sits in front of her. Following the silence that falls between them, Tsunade-sama lifts her gaze to observe him. Shikamaru doesn't know what she finds, but the look of pity in her face makes him fix his posture, tighten his grip on his wrist behind his back.

"I don't…"

Tsunade-sama extends the paper to him and he takes it, reads over it quickly. There are only a few lines detailing when and how they believe she escaped, who they believe she escaped with, what her motives are. There is a formal issue to label her as a rogue ninja—an issue that he is glad to see Tsunade-sama has not agreed to.

He checks the time, says in a rush, "She's only been gone for a few hours. She couldn't have gotten far. I can assemble a team—Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura. Or—or Yamato if Kakashi is too worn from the fight—"

"We're not sending out a recovery team," Tsunade-sama says, stunning him. Over his stuttering protests, she says, "I have reason to believe what Ren intends to do is the closest we will come to capturing Sasuke and bringing him home. I wish it didn't have to be this way, but—"

"She's not in the right mind for this kind of thing!" he snaps, the paper crumpling in his hand. The Hokage's eyes narrow at the tone of his voice. He knows better than to speak this way to the Hokage, but this is different. This is Ren, this is his best friend and— "What reason do you have to believe—"

"I am the Hokage," she says, sitting straighter in her seat, and though he is standing, he feels small in her presence. "The reasons I have are my own and, frankly, that you would even question them says something about your character. As someone who is close to Ren, I would have expected you to have a little more faith in her."

"But this isn't just some mission," he says. "This is _Sasuke_. He is dangerous, not only because of who he is, what he's been doing these past few years, but because of _what_ he is to her. This bond that binds them," he says, and Tsunade-sama's brow rises, like she is surprised he knows about it. "This bond that binds them makes him especially dangerous to her. He could tell her to kill herself and she would do it, no questions asked."

Tsunade-sama's fingers press together. "Have a little faith, Shikamaru."

Have faith—in what? In Ren to be strong enough to fight the bond? In Sasuke to not ask her to do anything she would regret? That Ren will come back alive—that she will come back at all?

He asks to be dismissed, a request Tsunade-sama mercifully grants. He wonders, briefly, as he leaves her office, whether he should go behind her back and do as he did for his last mission. But this is on a different level all together. When it comes to Sasuke, everything changes.

Shikamaru comes to an abrupt stop in the middle of the corridor, the report on Ren's disappearance strangled in his hand. He smoothes it out, reads it over again, but there is nothing to give away where she might have gone, where they suspect Sasuke might even be. A search party would be useless, anyway.

And it isn't that he doesn't have faith; Ren is strong, he knows she is strong, and if it weren't for the fact that he could outwit her, she could easily overpower him in any and every fight. But he is angry, angrier than he can ever remember being because this one time, she has outwitted him in the worst way. She had picked the perfect time to leave, when he was gone, when Naruto and Sakura and Kakashi were gone, when there was no one here to possibly stop her, and during a moment when he should be happy, when an enormous weight should have lifted off his shoulder, he is again pressed with worry and discontent.

He should have noticed. He should have seen all the signs.

"Come back," she had said before he left. And she been more melancholy and serious than he had expected, had leaned on her tiptoes to reach his ear and whisper a soft declaration that she would have never made unless she thought she might never see him again.

"Come back," she had said, and he had been too caught up in himself to realize she had never promised to stay.


	5. alternate

They gather on the other side of the street, watching. Ino is the one who speaks first.

"Does _anyone_," she starts, "know who that is?"

Kiba crosses his arms, scowling. "No idea. Someone from the Chuunin committee maybe?"

Chouji shakes his head. "Doubtful. I've seen the way Shikamaru talks to people on the committee, and he looks _much_ more annoyed than when he interacts with them."

The trio continue watching as Shikamaru, standing on the corner of the street where they were supposed to meet for lunch, speaks with a girl who has her back to them. They can see Shikamaru scowling after nearly everything the girl says, see him grow increasingly irritated, especially when the girl leans up on her toes and speaks closely in his ear. He doesn't push her away, though, only listens and rolls his eyes when she leans back.

"Well, whoever she is," Ino says, eyes sparking with a need for gossip, "it looks to me like they've got history. Come on."

"Ino, I don't think that's a good idea," Chouji says, but she is already jogging off, waving to Shikamaru over the heads of strangers passing by. Kiba follows close on her heels and, with no other choice since Ino had offered to pay for lunch, Chouji goes after them.

"Yoo-hoo, Shikamaru!" calls Ino, causing him to look up and the girl he had been talking to glance at them over her shoulder. It is a slight turn of her head; Ino can barely make out her features, but as she approaches, the girl turns completely to face her and the boys.

She is pretty, Ino supposes, if you liked plain things. The girl's deep brown hair barely brushed past her chin and shone blonde at the ends in the sunlight that hit her from behind. Her eyes were almond shape, and were the same unremarkable brown as her hair. Her face was round, but with high cheekbones, which gave her face some definition. She regards Ino with considerable disinterest, like whatever business she'd had here was through.

"Oh," Ino says, feigning innocence as she slowed to a stop. "Sorry, did I interrupt something?"

The girl smiles a thin smile that Ino has seen before on Sakura, when Ino is teasing her friend and the other girl is thoroughly fed up with her. "No," the girl says, stepping back to stand beside Shikamaru. Ino notices that she stands particularly close to him, so close that her fingers almost brush against the back of Shikamaru's hand. "I was just about to leave. Sorry for keeping you from your lunch plans, Shika."

"I don't believe we've met," says Kiba, sliding in front of Ino and offering a sly grin. Ino harrumphs, annoyed to have been pushed out the way. "My name is Izunuka Kiba. I'm an old friend of Shikamaru's."

The girl grins, bows her head in return. "It's nice to meet you, Kiba. I wish I had more time to stay and chat, but I really have to get going. Remember, Shikamaru: seven, tonight," the girl says with a wink, and leans up to kiss Shikamaru's cheek. "See ya later, handsome."

The girl leaves without acknowledging anyone else, despite how they gape at her, eyes flickering from her retreating back to Shikamaru's pouting face as he rubs away her kiss.

"Sorry about that," Shikamaru says with a shake of his head. "Of all the troublesome things—anyway, I'm starved. Let's go."

"Now, hold on just a minute," Ino says, staying Shikamaru with her hand. "You're going to explain to us who that was and what you were talking about—"

"And how _you_ of all people," Kiba says, scowling at being so easily dismissed, "managed to land a girl like that!"

Shikamaru's frown deepens as he shoves his hands into his pockets. "Her name is Kagiru Ren. She's an old family friend of mine who's visiting for the week. All we were talking about was why she was here and why she decided to show up so suddenly. She's expecting my family to accommodate her without notice, is all. She wants me to check with my parents to make sure she can stay."

"Kagiru Ren," Chouji repeats. "That sounds familiar. Wasn't there a Ren in our class back at the Academy?"

Shikamaru nods, his shoulders sagging. "She lived in Konoha for a while before leaving and—all you need to know is she had some family problems, okay? Now can we please get some lunch before my break is over?"

"Ah. Not yet. What was that at the end?" says Ino, tapping her cheek. "What was with that kiss? _Friends_ do not kiss like that. At least not around here."

Kiba smirks, nudges Ino. "Don't tell me you're jealous, Ino?"

"She's an old family friend," Shikamaru insists after Ino punches Kiba's shoulder hard enough to send him careening into the corner of a shop. "She's self-entitled and thinks she can get away with that stuff. It's troublesome, but I can't stop her."

"Yeah, but you, Ino, and Chouji are old family friends," Kiba says, rubbing his new injury and wincing. "You guys don't go around talking like that."

"It's different with her," Shikamaru says, and then shakes his head. "Listen, I'm not going to talk about this with you guys anymore. Come to lunch, don't come to lunch. I'll pay by myself if I have to."

Shikamaru walks off then, but, resilient, Ino and Kiba continue to pester him for information about his friend. Chouji tags along, but only because there is the promise of food.

[+]

Kagiru Ren hasn't come back to the village for no reason. There are people to see, things to do, matters to be taken care of, bonds to be broken. It's all for the better, she knows, but even as she walks the streets of the village, she feels uneasy.

She is not meant to be in a place like this, where there is love everywhere, bonds, everywhere.

The highlight of her day had been finding Shikamaru so easily. Even after ten years, she had been able to pick him out in a crowd, call out to him, have him recognize her. Him blinking at her, only needing a few seconds to remember her and say her name—that was the best part of it all.

She hadn't expected for him to have become so handsome, though. He was gangly, even at seven, but now—now there was some strength to him. Not to mention, the fact that he became a village official, despite his lazy demeanor, impressed her.

She is sure she'll impress him, too.

Hopefully.

But, for now, Ren focuses on getting to the Ninja Administration building, where the Hokage waits to have a meeting with her. Ren doesn't know what to expect—the Third, who had let her leave all those years ago, was dead, killed in an attack on Konoha led by Orochimaru a few years ago. Ren had come back to the village, briefly, in disguise, to attend the old man's funeral, then promptly left.

There were too many people dying before she got to finish her business with them. She started to think she was, herself, a curse.

Godaime Hokage is a woman named Tsunade, a medical genius that everyone who was anyone in the medical field knew about. She was the woman who created the rules for medical shinobi who went into the field with squadrons, and had been paramount to saving countless lives during the Third Shinobi War. Ren had looked up to the legendary woman, but really the future of her idolizing Tsunade would depend on their meeting today.

Ren hopes Sandaime had left some special notes about her for the new Hokage. Especially after everything that has happened.

She came back specially because of what happened, though she doesn't know if anyone will believe her. When she first heard about it, she pushed harder to find a way to break the bond, but, now, no closer to breaking it than before, she figured she may as well return and report on other things she had discovered while she was away.

The bond was not completely useless in light of the events that had happened. She was careful enough with it that she managed to get some information, but then there was a little slip up and then her connection was severed—but she had more than enough to be valuable to the village. She had enough information to expose their location, for the village to send a squad after the missing-nin who had gone rogue after the death of the Hokage and joined up with the likes of Orochimaru in a search for power. This information would be enough to bring him back.

There is just something about Uchiha Sasuke that makes her want to knock him down a few notches.

Maybe it was the fact that the only thing she wants more than breaking this bond is breaking the boy she is bound to.

* * *

**A/N:** I had an idea when I was just starting to write BOUND that Ren would come in right after the time skip. I forget why I didn't go through with it, but everything has turned out okay the way I've written it so far, so I can't complain about the way things have gone. Anyway, thanks for reading!


	6. before

When he passes Ren's door just before bed, he finds Rei sitting outside Ren's room, her legs pulled up to her chest, her chin resting on her knees. She looks up as he approaches, offers him a wistful smile.

"What are you doing out here?" he asks.

Her grin widens, her teeth flashing in the darkness. "I could ask you the same. Isn't your bedroom the other way?"

"Bathroom," he says, scowling.

"Ah, right," she says, nodding. "To answer your question, I was going to go in and give our dear tonakai a change of clothes but she seems to have fallen asleep. After sobbing her eyes out, anyway."

Shikamaru's eyes widen with alarm. He looks to the door, thinking of going in and seeing if she's all right, but if she's sleeping then there's nothing to be done. He settles with pulling his hands from his pockets and rolling and unrolling his fingers to relieve his nerves. "Why? She was fine when we left."

Rei shrugs. He can see the change of clothes scrunched in her arms, see the ways her eyes droop with sadness. "I thought so too, but I think Ren is still suffering from the aftereffects of the bond. You don't break a centuries old thing and are fine, you know? Besides, the bond during it's tenure paid a toll on Ren's mental stability too. It must be catching up to her."

"You can help her get better," Shikamaru says, "right?"

Rei laughs, pulling herself to her feet. As she brushes herself off, she says, "We can all help her. Healing isn't a bunch of potions and rituals, Shikun—sorry, _Shikamaru-kun_," she says, bumping her forehead with her knuckles as though remembering something from long ago. "Healing someone who is effected as Ren is takes time and the comforts of real, genuine love and friendship. It takes you," Rei says, tucking the change of clothes under her arm and clapping a hand on his shoulder. She gives him a small, affirming squeeze, and smiles, leaning up on her toes to kiss his cheek. He blushes as she pulls away and she laughs.

"You're welcome to go in and see her if you want, Rudolph," she says, flicking his nose as she walks away. "And just so you know, the bathroom is two doors that way—" She points to a door behind him, the one he had had to pass on his way here and hadn't given a second glance. "—and if you go any farther, you'll be accompanying _me_ to bed. Good night!"

With a waggle of her fingers, Rei disappears down the hall, her hair swishing behind her. Shikamaru scowls at the empty space and then steps forward, flattening his hand on the door to Ren's room. As Rei had guessed, he had come down this way with the intention of seeing Ren before he went to bed. Something about what she had said earlier—_I still get this weird stirring in my stomach when I think about you too much_—had been on his mind throughout dinner, as he helped his father herd the children into rooms and his mother organize the provisions they received. He wondered whether the stirring in her stomach was a good thing, or if it only made her feel worse about her circumstances.

He has no intention of asking her about it, of course. Not with the war about the start in full. But he wants to see her all the same.

Taking a deep breath, Shikamaru opens Ren's door and peers inside. It's completely dark, save for a splotch of white against the floor. It's a pillow, he realizes as he steps inside and picks it up. He turns it over in his hands as he walks up to her bed, wondering why it's been discarded in on the floor.

She's curled in a ball under the blankets, her head resting on her arm. The blankets are pulled completely up to her brow and he pulls it down, giving her a chance to breathe. She stirs, her brow pulling together in annoyance, and buries her head into her arm.

Shikamaru sighs at her hopelessness, lifting her head and tucking the pillow beneath her. He hears her muttering, leans closer to see if he can make out what she says. Hears his name. He pulls away, frowning, and brushes the hair from her face.

She gives a little sigh, and he thinks he sees her eyelids flutter, freezing him in place. She turns her head, pushes her nose into the palm of his hand. He feels the soft pressure of her lips against his skin, and then she rolls over and is asleep again.

He leaves after that. As he closes the door behind him, he looks at his hands, big and callous and tired. Shikamaru wipes his hands over his face, pressing his palm to his mouth momentarily, before returning to his room, dawn on the horizon.


	7. sleep

He comes home to find everything has shifted a little to the left. At first he thinks it's his imagination, but then he notices the little circles left in the carpet from where the legs of his sofa used to be and decides: everything has shifted a little to the left.

Shikamaru proceeds with caution after that. But there's no room to hide in the main living space of his apartment, and the bathroom is empty, too. That leaves his bedroom as the only place where an intruder could hide.

There were no signs of forced entry at the door, though. Whoever was—or _is_—in his house must either be a talented locksmith or someone who knew where he kept his spare key, and there were only three people (to his knowledge) who knew where he kept his spare key, and they were all harmless. But still, with the Chuunin exams coming up again, he has been working a desk job lately, so he is without his hip pouch or holster, without any of his usual shinobi tools if he does have to fight.

Troublesome.

His bedroom door is ajar as he approaches. Taking a deep breath, he pushes it wider, peeks inside.

The bedroom furniture, unlike the living room furniture, is not displaced. The only thing out of place, in fact, is a lump in his bed, curled up against the wall, blanket pulled completely over it. He narrows his eyes; the shape definitely belongs to that of a human, which now only begs the question: who?

He steps inside his room without turning on the lights, allowing the intruder to sleep on. After all, all they did upon entering his apartment was move his furniture. There is no way this person could be a real threat to his safety.

Besides, he has a good idea of who it could be by now, and when he goes to the bed and shakes the lump awake, the moan he elicits from her confirms it.

Ren pulls herself upright, the blanket falling from her shoulders. She rubs her eyes, blinking up at him, then gives him a wide smile. When she speaks, her breath reeks of alcohol.

"You are home!" she says, her drunkenness punctuating each of words. She pulls herself up on her knees and wraps her arms around his shoulders, hugging him. He cringes at the smell of stale alcohol that she radiates. She giggles. "I was wondering when you would be home. I did a little redecorating while you were away. What'sa matter, Shika? You don't like the furniture? It was just a little off…"

"How can you already be drunk," he says, pulling her off and easing her back onto the bed, "when it's only Tuesday?"

It takes her a moment to register his question. Her head lolls to the side before she picks herself back up again, holding up a lopsided finger. "_Not_ drunk," she says indignantly. "Buzzed, a little, but _not_ drunk, Shika."

"Regardless," he says with a roll of his eyes, "why are you here?"

"I came looking for you." Ren grins broadly, swaying just enough for him to be worried that she will fall over. "I had a little to drink, and I thought I would come find you. But you were still at work, so I just let myself in, and then your furniture looked weird to me, so I moved it around. It looks better like that. You should keep it that way."

He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. He forgets that it's hard to get straightforward answers out of drunks. His dad was like this sometimes, at family gatherings when people offered him too much to drink too fast. But it was easier with his father because he could avoid Shikaku for a majority of the event. But Ren is here, in his bed, directly in the way of his getting to sleep after a late night at work.

Though he is tired—and growing increasingly more tired by the minute—he keeps his patience as he asks, "And why did you come looking for me?"

At this she shakes her head, and for a second he thinks she won't tell. But then she droops, says in a low voice, "I just keep having these dreams, you know? Every night, I have these dreams, and drinking a little helps."

He raises a brow, caught off guard by the sudden smoothness of her speech, like she has already sobered. "Dreams? What dreams?"

Ren pats the space next to her, urging him to sit. He doesn't. So instead, she raises herself up again and braces herself by taking his face in her hands. She takes a breath, leaning her forehead against his, and closes her eyes.

"You die," she says quietly, her thumb smoothing over his cheek. "Every night in my dreams, you die. We are on a mission together and I get distracted and you die. We are in a war together and I get distracted and you die. We are doing something together, and I get distracted, and you die. So I thought, if I drank a little, I might sleep better and you wouldn't die. And I was half-right: I mean, you still died, but when I woke up, and you were here. So that's good."

She smiles, leans a little closer to him, her nose pressing against his cheek. He feels her breath, hot on his skin, and—

Ren drops her head on his shoulder, burrowing her face into his neck. "Shikamaru," she says. "Have I ever told you that you smell pretty? Because you do."

Shikamaru raises his eyes to the ceiling and he purses his lips. Sighing, he takes her by the shoulders, and eases her into the bed, resting her head gently on the pillow. She is asleep before he pulls the blanket over her. Hopeless.

He rolls his shoulder back, anticipating the ache he'll feel in the morning after a night on the couch. Kicking off his shoes, he turns and starts to pull off his flak jacket when his shirt catches on something.

When he glances over his shoulder, Shikamaru finds that Ren's hand grasps the hem of his shirt, keeping him in place. He takes her wrist, says, "Ren, you need to—"

"Will you sleep with me?"

Her face is half-smashed into the pillow, so he can't be sure he hears her right. Shikamaru scowls at her, detaching her hand from his shirt and crouches to be level with her, asking, "What was that?"

She opens an eye and blinks at him. Without hesitation or the slightest slur in her words, she says, "Will you sleep with me, Shikamaru? So when I wake up from another one of those dreams, I can see you, not dead, and then I don't have to get drunk or come find you because you'll be right here, right next to me. Sleep with me," she says, her fingers reaching out to brush his cheek and missing by mere centimeters. "Shikamaru. Sleep with me."

Her eyes droop dangerously low, but she fights against sleep hard to wait for his response. He searches her face for any indication that this could be the alcohol talking, but—

Shikamaru sighs, shaking his head.

"Troublesome," he says. "You always have a knack for being troublesome, you know that?"

"'s why you like me," she mutters and, unable to resist any more, she closes her eyes.

He sees it then. Even in the darkness, he can make out the bags under her eyes, the weight of the much needed sleep on her face. She must have been having these dreams—these nightmares—for a long time now, and she only just…

Shikamaru glances at the clock—too late for his tastes, and he has an early morning. Sleeping on a couch would be more troublesome than it's worth.

He sighs, nudging Ren until she moans and slaps his hand away. "Scoot over," he says, pulling the covers back. "You're taking up the whole bed."

Through the darkness, he thinks he sees her grin as she rolls onto her side, her back to him, her head on the edge of the pillow. Scowling, Shikamaru slides in beside her. On his back, he takes up much more room than he should, his shoulder digging into her spine. He is about to turn onto his side too, but as he deliberates whether to turn to face her or put his back to her, she moves first. She flips over to face him, hugging his arm and burrowing her face into his shoulder.

"Thank you," she mumbles. Her feet bump his ankles as she settles closer to him. "It's just like when we were kids, huh?"

Shikamaru gives her a sidelong glance, then redirects his eyes toward the ceiling. His work clothes and the blanket covering them exacerbates Ren's body heat, making him uncomfortably hot. But he can feel her heart beating against his arm, feel her breathing slow through the fabric of his sleeve as she falls asleep.

He looks at her once more and, leaning down, he kisses the crown of her head. "Yeah," he says, closing his eyes. "Just like when we were kids."


End file.
